Tommy wakes up from fainting in the loving arms of her mother, who is very happy she has good friends who take care of him, and are Power Rangers! The mask rips off and Rita Repulsa is revealed underneath it. Tommy wakes up once again, surrounded by the other Rangers, who are both worried about his health and divided on whether he should continue to be on missions or not. Meanwhile the actual Rita continues to develop a plot to take back her Green Ranger and get revenge on the Power Ranger, a plan that includes the Dragonzord. The issue has escalated the story even further, many unknowns for Jason and company, but they continue to make decisions based on the information they have. Writing is fantastic on this issue, characterization well beyond the  established roles, which will continue to be a point for me especially on this first arc. Goals and aspirations for some of the team mates going further than being a Power Ranger, there is a great interaction with Tommy and Trini which reveals a lot about her character and what she might want to do. After all, teenagers with attitude are still teenagers. Zack being the cold voice of logic proves him to be an individual in his own right, worrying about the safety of the team with such an unknown element added to them. Rita’s plan continues to evolve, there is no true reveal to what she wants to do but throughout her reign as MMPR main villain she was scary and more effective than even her partner Zed was.

The art continues to kill it on this issue. Having a full-on battle between the Dragonzord and the Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord was an eyefull of grace that must happen more often in these issues. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the art is at it’s strongest when the fighting happens, civilian, morphed or on zords, and it’s something that’s beginning to lack a bit more and more these issues. Do I want an entire issue of the Megazord fighting a monster by style of Pacific Rim? Yes, yes I do.

This issue does explore something that I’ve tried to keep under wraps as not to sound as the giant Power Ranger nerd that I am, but it seems the opportunity has presented itself. As the team is studying what happened to Tommy, they discuss much about the Morphin Grid and how it works with their powers. Having this on the third issue of an ongoing Power Rangers comic is huge, the TV show didn’t discuss this until well into the season, and only revealing little, giving out whatever was convenient to them in order to keep the show running, with more Ranger teams and different themes, as well as being able to explain away things like building the White Ranger suit, or  Jason coming back as the Gold Ranger during the Zeo teams. I know I may be getting ahead of myself here but I can’t help but wonder how far will this or future creative teams explore into this mythology. The possibilities are endless once the lore of the Morphin Grid has been openned.

Power Rangers #3 continues to bring the story they had laid out so far, with the slight risk of it becoming “The Tommy Oliver Show,” I will continue to follow through with this story and look forward to how this creative team will bring it all together.

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #3 Writer: Kyle Higgins Artist: Hendry Prasetya Colorist: Matt Herms Publisher: BOOM! Studios Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/11/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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